The Berne Convention provided that each contracting state would recognize as copyrighted works authored by nationals of other contracting states. Copyright under the Berne Convention is automatic: no registration is required, nor is the inclusion of a copyright notice. The Berne Convention provided for a minimum term of copyright protection of the life of the author plus fifty years, but parties were free to provide longer terms of copyright protection, as the European Union did with the 1993 Directive on harmonising the term of copyright protection. The United States followed with the Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act of 1998.
The United States refused initially to become a party to the Convention, since it would have required major changes in its copyright law (particularly with regard to moral rights and the registration of copyright works). Thus the Universal Copyright Convention was adopted in 1952, to cater to its objections.
Since 1967, the convention has been administered by WIPO (the World Intellectual Property Organization).
See also: Berne three-step test, Public domain